Half the Blood of Brooklyn

Well, kids, the gloves are off. Sure, ALREADY DEAD and NO DOMINION were pretty tough books - lots of heartless jockeying for power, lots of bones breaking, a few corpses at the end of it all - but by the end of HALF THE BLOOD IN BROOKLYN those were the good old days.

First of all, Joe's taken a job with the Society. It's the safe way to go, but Joe just isn't cut out for that kind of teamwork. His pride has suffered - and so have his morals. He's back to being a hired gun, and for the first time we see him killing indiscriminately. The bodies pile up fast.

Second of all, Evie is dying. She's physically a wreck, and she's not all there mentally, either. The crisis we've seen coming for the past couple of books has arrived: Joe has to let show more her die, or try to save her by making her a vampire. Naturally, things don't go as planned.

Meanwhile, Joe's sent across the river to Brooklyn. The Society is reaching out to the boroughs for allies and they've found a rag-tag band of carnival freaks who need support. They find out why soon enough: a clan of conservative Jewish vampires is well on its way to owning Brooklyn, and the circus freaks are getting in the way. Sounds simple enough - but when the Coalition and the Society are both involved, everything is complicated. Wheels within wheels.

I read with my heart in my throat for most of the book - too anxious about what would happen next to put it down for even a minute. The ending is definitely a cliffhanger - and I look forward to finding out what happens next. show less

I can't get enough of Charlie Huston's vampire-noir mixture. He delivers a unique texture of fantasy riding on the hairy edge of reality. And there isn't much sugar plum fairy stuff going on here. Mostly deep dark disturbing action.

Joe Pitt is a great anti-hero. He has some characteristics that make us like him. With him, what you see is what you get. He gives everyone a fair shake, doesn't hold a grudge, and sees a larger picture than his night-to-night grind to find blood (even if he is a little slow to grasp it at times). And if brutality is called for, Joe's still your man... er, vampire. Sometimes it is hard to believe Joe continues to survive. At one time or another he alienates, um, everyone!

Complaints? The plotting around the show more Jewish vampires was a bit rough, almost too subtle and harder to follow than most of what Huston writes. Sometimes Huston resorts to sparsely described action even as it crescendos. I'm thinking of the death of the vampire Rabbi. The whole sequence is described in too few brush strokes to me.

I enjoy how the whole series evolves around some key plot elements such as the clans and Pitt's girlfriend. It helps us understand why Joe even bothers to stick around Manhattan. There has to be enough blood across the country, no? Joe's activity keeps bringing him in the faces of the clan leaders and we get to puzzle out the politics and motivations of the larger story.

Huston's work is hugely entertaining to me. show less

"--Well, just threaten a man, why can't you? You make it all complicated like that and I sometimes don't know what I got to do to keep from getting slapped around... I appreciate the benefit of the doubt and all, Joe, but really, man, unless I'm high you really shouldn't count on me thinking too straight."

It's always nice to be clear when you are trying to get information.

The third in the Joe Pitt series was a little harder to get into, but that could have been my lingering dyspepsia after a political-talk filled lunch with pops... maybe call it a three-and-a-half star read, to be re-read in a better mood. Frankly, I thought my aggravation would have been well suited to Joe Pitt. This book is a lot more violent, with quite a few more show more entrenched New York stereotypes, a greater freak factor, and a more unlikeable lead. Manhattan Vampyres are starting to cast their gazes outside the island, investigating the prospect of alliances. Terry wants to send Joe to Brooklyn for a meet. Joe is tormented over Evie and doesn't know which way to turn. He starts grasping at straws, and it's never pleasant when people become desperate, hoping for the miracle.

I won't summarize, but I want to remember that I found the Freaks disgusting, and the Jewish clan severely retrograde. Frankly, it puzzles me. Were the scenes in the other books equally farcical and I missed the point? I remember the aura of danger in Joe's prior confrontations, but this cross between Jewish Vampyres and redneck marriage clans just seemed... silly. Joe's escape strategy smacks of one used before, in a prior book. .

Still, it's a good read. The stark dialogue captures my attention and is one of the strengths of Huston's style. The description of Joe stopping in for late-night snacks at a bodega was hauntingly real, and then ruthless. Then there are the scenes at the Enclave with Daniel. Huston surprised me there, but perhaps I should have expected his bleak vision to win out. Like an abused dog, Joe is repeatedly biting the hands that are reached out to him, and it gets a little hard to witness him hurting. I also tend to get annoyed when plot points hinge on someone not sharing information. In this case, there's no obvious reason for Joe not to share with the Society, except sheer obstinance. This feels a little like a mid-series book with a number of plot lines left incomplete, so I'm anxious to get the last two and see where this story goes.

Book four: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/348584149

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/half-the-blood-of-brooklyn-by-charlie-... show less

This is the third in the Joe Pitt vampire/noir series of books so if you're thinking of reading these it might be a good idea to miss out the next paragraph if you want to avoid potential spoilers as it is definitely one best read in order.

Now working for The Society, Joe is sent to Brooklyn on a recruitment mission. Something big is brewing and his boss, Terry, wants some new allies to help when it comes down. As Manhattan is pretty much squared off that leaves over the bridge and Joe is sent to bring back a representative from a clan called the Freaks. Even by vampyre standards these guys really do deserve their name. But with Joe being involved events don't transpire smoothly and he finds himself caught up in a local family squabble. show more Along with that little problem he also has the ongoing struggle of his rapidly dying Aids infected girlfriend to deal with. The decision to try and replace one disease with another is rapidly approaching and there's no guarantee that she'll survive the process or be happy about the outcome if she does. Added to all this is the complication of Amanda, the girl Joe saved in the last book. She wants to use her inheritance to find a cure for the vyrus and she wants Joe to be a part of it. So there's quite a lot going on in this book and I've not even mentioned the usual complications of The Coalition or Enclave dealings that Joe has.

Despite having quite a few blood and guts moments I feel this book is more of a set-up novel for the remainder of the series and although it leaves you wanting to jump into the next book to find out what happens next I think I'll wait until I have the final volume on tap as well before I do. show less

This was a disappointment to me, as someone who really enjoyed the first two Joe Pitt novels. There was a stretch of about 50 pages which started off okay, and then someone was killed, and then someone else was killed, and on and on and on. I lost track of why all of these people were dying; it just got sort of boring after awhile. I'm not averse to violence or bloodshed in a novel, but it really felt pointless to me.
Joe Pitt also started to annoy me in this book. Never a very chatty guy, he was downright monosyllabic here, and rather flat as a character.
All in all, a book that sort of meandered and never felt like it had much plot. I wish I had liked it more, as the other reviewers seem to have, but I just didn't feel the love.

This third novel in the Joe Pitt series finds him still in the shadows of Manhattan which has been split among various "vampyre" clans. Joe grudgingly works for The Society as head of security and when his boss sends him across the river to Brooklyn to check out some rival clans he knows there will be trouble. And is there ever. Murder, kidnapping, double crosses and treachery are just the start of the blood soaked mayhem. Huston's tough-guy neo noir rewrites the tired vampire legends on the gritty streets of modern New York. Much like fellow noir writer James Ellroy, the dialogue comes fast, furious in staccato bursts, and it's dark and raw stuff. Certainly not for the faint of heart, but those who enjoy dark and imaginative horror show more will find much to savor here as Huston is one of the most unique writers in contemporary genre fiction. show less

It wasn't as exciting as the earlier ones in the series. Joe is still Joe, and the story is still noir with vampires being a 'normal' addition to the world, but there was a lot of - well, I guess discussion is the best word - of relgious-political factions in the vampire world. Of course, Joe is caught in the middle of it all, but... there was too much talk-talk (the Rabbi sharing his politics, Bird sharing his politics, Lydia sharing her politics, the Enclave sharing its politics, Amanda sharing hers and so on...) I wanted more action-story, less talking-story.

That and some of the suspense seemed put-on for the sake of the story: Joe didn't have to go through what he did go through, all he had to do is speak up and much of it wouldn't show more have happened. But then there'd be no story, huh...

Of course, it was still good, just not as thrilling as I had hoped. show less